Happy Half Birthday, Olivia!

Happy Half Birthday, Olivia! I can not believe you are already 6 months old!
We have been blessed beyond words with you, baby girl. Every day you light up our world just the with your smile. I love hearing your little "coos" and "mamamama..." And this is just the beginning. Each day a new sound escapes your beautiful little mouth and your eyes light up at a new thing you're seeing for the first time. You're recognizing voices, faces, places. You are truely amaizing.
Tonight you will have your first food. I know you've had cereal and the best milk ever made (thanks to me) and the occassional lick of ice cream, but you will get actual baby food. I am so excited! I just know you're going to love it! I wonder what will be your favorite...carrots, green beans, bananas? If you're anything like me, you will love mexican food. I am sad to say, that does not come in baby food form. I will make that happen for you as soon as I can find a way to without hurting your precious tummy. You have my word.
I will not go on and on about every single adorable thing you have done the past 6 months. I will, however, share some of my favorites.
I love waking up to your sweet face. Your smile and bright blue eyes capture my heart. I love the way you touch my face and talk away to me in a language only we understand. I am amazed at how patient you are with your brothers and sister. You are extremelly easy going until you've had enough, then, you let us all know what you think! I love how determined you are to sit up and play. You have never liked lying down. Any day now you'll be crawling, then walking.....
Oh baby, the places you will go!
I love you more than I will ever be able to put into words, but I promise to show you daily. Your daddy and I pray for you daily and know that God is alreay hard at work in your life. I can hardly wait to see what He has in store.
Once again, Happy Half Birthday, Doodle Bop. I love you fierce!

"The Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace." Numbers 6:24-26

Craig and video games

As I sit here and admire my husband, many thoughts run through my head. For example, he sure is cute playing his video games. Right about the time I get the urge to tell him just how stinking cute he is, he says something extremely manly to the TV, as thought the characters in the game can hear him. This is still cute, however, when he is talking to the TV it is not the time to tell him he is cute.
Tonight's game is Zelda on the Nintendo 64. We are actually kind of playing the game together. He is physically playing the game, and I'm his co-pilot. I get to look up walk-throughs on the internet. We are currently looking for some girl in the Lost Woods...her usual spot. This "usual spot" is not in any walk-through I can find, so we're going in circles looking for this "crazy B" as Craig so nicely refers to her. Haha..see, he's funny!
The sweet thing about all of this is though he does love Zelda, he is playing it for me. While I was pregnant, we played Batman, Arkam Asylum together. That game was awesome! We had so much fun that we've been searching for another game to play together ever since. We played a little bit of Bioshock, which seems like a good game, but I just couldn't get into it. Somehow I can thoroughly enjoy cartoon characters and fairies, but aliens and metal guys called "Boss"...well, that is a little harder for me to understand. So, now we're playing Zelda on our old-school 64 and loving it!
Ok, just got in trouble for typing and not playing my wifely duty as "navigator" so I'd better end this blog for now.
Man, I sure do love my husband!

Going Bonkers!

Going Bonkers kept me from going bonkers at home with the kids today! Spring Break is supposed to be sunny and warm, not rainy and cold. Thank goodness Brandie invited us to Going Bonkers today! The kids had an absolute blast! And I'm happy to report that we only had a few meltdowns today. Taylor did not want to wear her princess tennis shoes today. She wanted to wear her boots. Now, I know what you're thinking..."what would it have hurt for her to wear her brown boots?" It would have hurt absolutely nothing. However, I didn't want her to wear them and as her mother I can make that decision. I was enforcing the "because I said so" law 100%. That problem was quickly solved when I showed her picture of where we were going (LOVE the internet) and explained that only little girls that wear tennis shoes are allowed in.

Problem #1 solved! So...30 minutes after our departure time, 1 problem down, missing cell phone found, three kids happy and loaded in the car, off we went!

Going Bonkers is a wonderful place to take your kids! It was crazy packed today because it's Spring Break, but it was still great for the kids! Everyone in your group gets a matching stamp so no one can wonder off with a stranger. And, let me tell you, they actually check the stamps to make sure the kids you're trying to leave with belong to you. If you have any questions about this, just ask Brandie :)

I sat back with Olivia, and watched Caleb, Collin, and Taylor play. They were all over the place! It took a trained eye to find them in the massive jungle gym amongst all the other kids. Note to self: dress them in matching neon next time. We played for a good 2 1/2 hours before they were exhausted and hungry.

So, off we went, and that is when meltdown #2 occurred. It was a nightmare in the parking lot! There was a very big tow truck parked right behind me. Whatever he had going on set off a car alarm, people were coming and going left and right, I was trying not to get lost following Brandie...whew! I think that's it. It was a small, short lived moment, but it was a moment none the less.

Lunch was at McDonald's. I truely think everyone in a 10 mile radius chose to eat at that same McDonald's today. They were out of the scheduled happy meal toys becuase of the crowd. Thank goodness the substitute toys the kids got resembled an ipod,otherwise I would've had 3 unhappy kids! In less than 15 minutes, 2 cheeseburgers, 1 order of chicken nuggets, fries, and milk were gone. Off the kids went to play until they were too tired to walk straight. Now, after all this playing you'd think they would crash in the car. I know if I weren't the one driving, I'd crash in the car. Nope, they were wide awake, or at least looked wide awake. Their eyes remained open, but not a peep came out of them. Once home everyone crawled in bed and rested. Taylor crashed first, and the boys followed. As soon as Olivia is asleep, this tired mom is taking herself a nap as well.

Arboretum for Livie Pics!

Our Saturday morning began full-speed ahead! I wanted to get to the Arboretum first thing to miss the HUGE rush of people that would be there on opening day of Dallas Blooms. I bathed Olivia and fixed her hair (or shall I say, tried to tame it) and then I woke Taylor up. I asked Tay if she wanted to go take pictures of Livie with me. Of course she said, yes, and then her smart little 3 year old mind went into action! As I was pulling a pair of pants and a t-shirt out of her drawers, she sweetly said, "Mommy, I want to wear a dress". Hmmm.... That was followed with, "Mommy, I want to wear a pretty bow in my hair, too". I was starting to catch on, don't worry. So, both of my girls were dolled up and off we went!

The Arboretum is a beautiful, magical place! I had forgotten just how breath taking it is. I think it's one of those places where one just feels a little closer to God. Since it was Opening Day, photographers were lined up at the entrance ready for it to open. I was early enough to hop in line with them! I wish I could say that I am just such a great planner that I planned on being there at that time, etc, BUT the truth is that the idea of tons of traffic, the kind of traffic that comes with Opening Day of Dallas Blooms, scares me to death!

My friend,Shannon, the photographer, met up with us, and off we went! Shannon is a great photographer! She knew what pictures she wanted, where to go, etc. I just followed along and changed Olivia's tutu when told to-lol. The pictures are going to be beautiful! I can not wait to see them! She wore a light pink tutu for a few of the pictures and a deep red tutu for others. Flowers, a bench, and water fountains were the background. Olivia was perfect for the pictures, too. No fussing, or anything. She even sat up by herself for about 3 seconds for a few of them!! And, yes, Taylor's plan worked out...as I was changing Olivia in and out of her tutus, Shannon asked if she could snap a few pictures of Taylor. So, Taylor had a few pictures taken. Shannon's daughter, Hannah, was there as well, and she took some candid pictures of them playing as well. (Taylor had fun playing with "the girl whos name is like Hannah Montana" and keeps asking when she'll see her again!)

After the professional pictures, I took some not-so-professional pictures around the Arboretum of Taylor. Olivia was sleeping on me in her Mei Tai. I guess the life of a model is exhausting!

Girls' Day!

Taylor, Olivia, Gram and I had a girl's day on Saturday, February 20th. It was filled with lunch and a day at the "spa" (aka: Sweet and Sassy).

Taylor is almost 4 and she just had her first hair cut. If it weren't for the fact that her hair was so long that it was falling into the toilet, I would not have had it cut yet. She has such beautiful hair! She knows she has beautiful hair, too. When someone tells her that her hair is pretty, she says, "I know". It makes me laugh! So...she got her hair cut. All the dead ends were cut off and boy has it helped with the tangle situation! She wasn't sure what to think about the situation. She knew she was at Sweet and Sassy, which made her super excited, but she normally gets her hair fixed like a "rock star". This was not the case on this day. Though she did get glitter sprayed in it when she was done. This made her happy! (I think I was washing glitter off her scalp for the next 3 days). She looked like such a little diva when she got her nails done at the same time her hair was being done. It was the cutest thing!! Now, one might assume the nail color we choose was pink....one would be wrong. Tay wanted every other nail painted blue and purple, like Aunt Kimmie. It actually turned out nice. I'm just thankful she didn't decide she liked Aunt Kimmie's black nails. :) Once she was all dolled up, she took a stroll on the runway! She's a natural model! Olivia was not left out of this adventure, don't you worry! Glittery stars were not only placed on big sissy's cheeks, but on hers as well.

For lunch Taylor wanted to eat at Genghis Griddle (Genghis grill). She knew exactly how she wanted her bowl made as we walked through the line. I think she started feeling a little big for her britches as she pranced around the restaurant! She ate enough to be full, but not too full....she wanted a milk shake for dessert. So, a pink (strawberry) milkshake was dessert.

It was wonderful spending the day with my girls and my mom. I am so blessed to the mommy of two such beautiful, sweet angels!